1/72 Airfix Avro Lancaster Biplane and Avro Anson Little Brother

[Head in the clouds.]

I now need a new project as my last Sea King has stalled so having a stash that has exceeded my initial limits means I have a wide choice to choose from, also, having just built 3 Sea Kings I needed something with tradional flight surfaces, ie, 'wings'. With a Lancaster or two in said ballooning stash I felt it was time to build my first Avro 'heavy', but which one. Well, it was never going to be a standard Lancaster was it.

 

The back story to this build goes back to the late eighties when my mate and I had a day out with our trusted 'Wrecks & Relics' book, this time it took us to a place called Cranfield in Bedfordshire and home to, amounst others, the Collage of Aeronautics. Since its inception after WW2 the Collage of Aeronautics has made many contributions to aviation and has had many intresting airframes living in it's hangers, one of which was PA474, long gone before our visit though but we still had a good day.

 

PA474 is well know as the jewel of the RAF and it's Battle of Britain Memorial Flight and needs no words here to describe its work since joining the BBMF, however, it has had a varied career since being delivered to the RAF in 1945, just to late to see action.  Built as a BI(FE) it never went to the Far East, instead finding itself in Africa assigned to 82SQ, coded 'M' doing work for Ordance Survey after being converted for PR work on the hot African continent, most of this conversion work being kept during it's time at Cranfield. On it's return to the UK it was sent to Tarrent Ruston for conversion to a Drone but an Avro Lincoln was considered more suitable and used instead, this was a stroke of luck as it was next sent to the Collage of Aeronautics at Cranfield and converted for research into Laminar Flow. This one act is what is often quoted as being what saved PA474 and who am I argue otherwise.

In 1964 PA474 was aquired by the Air Historical Branch during which time it starred in a couple of films. When 44Sq re-equiped with Avro Vulcans at Waddington a phone call was made, PA474 was inspected and made one last flight to Waddington for display with 44SQ, several years passed while work was carried out before it was aquired by the embryo BBMF in 1973, and, as they say, the rest is history.

This build however will concentrate on it's time at Cranfield doing research work on Laminar Flow aerofoils. For this work it was heavily modified with various aerofoils and also modified inside with 2 Budworth turbines to provide suction for the aerofoil. In all I have identified 23 alterations that need to be undertaken, no doubt more will crop up to add to the workload.

 

As a side project to this I will also be building Avro Anson I G-AIPC which was used either before or alongside PA474 but this will not be so in depth as much of the remedial work to the Airfix kit has be covered by @Acklinton in his superb Anson I(AI), I will only cover the work regarding the aerofoils so as not to tread over already trodden ground.

 

So, to start this show rolling some pics of boxes and trees;

Airfix 1/72 B1(FE) is the base kit;

 

Some tree shots;

 

 

 

 

 

 

Most people will be familiar with these pics as many Lancs have been built before but I had to start this build somehow...😁

Not forgetting the 'Annie' for this I am using the vintage Airfix boxing, this was purchased for the resonable sum of £10, evil bay prices can be double this so I was more than happy with this;

 

 

Much work to be done here!

Being very modern I thought some aftermarket was needed;

 

 

Last but not least;

 

Ok, I know what your thinking, he has lost the plot. Well you are are right if you said it 30 years ago but not now, one of the aerofoils fitted to PA474 was a section of Folland Midge wing which by my reckoning should not be that different to a Gnat wing so this will be donating a wing to create my 1/72 Lancaster Biplane.

 

This is PA474 at Cranfield doing research into Laminar flow;

 

Not forgetting Anson G-AIPC;

Copyright Barry Friend Collection.

 

I may or may not use this aerofoil, there is another option but I have not made my mind up yet...decisions decisions..😆

 

One thing I have learned since being on BM is that I know very little about planes so any input would be appreciated to push things along, thanks for looking

 

Gary

[WV908]

That post-war Lancaster set is a nice thing - as far as I'm aware it's the only aftermarket source for the fuselage heating intake. I've previously had to scratch build them on my Lancs.

 

I'll take a front row seat please if I may? I have a stalled build of PA474 and this build is already instilling some inspiration to have another look at it

 

Cheers,

. WV908 

[Thom216]

Should be one odd/unique bird!

[Head in the clouds.]

10 hours ago, WV908 said:

That post-war Lancaster set is a nice thing - as far as I'm aware it's the only aftermarket source for the fuselage heating intake. I've previously had to scratch build them on my Lancs.

Thanks for looking in @WV908. When you mentioned that heating intake I had to go and have a look because I could not remember seeing it but sure enough, it was there between the late style rudders......phew, one less job to do, only 22 now.🤪

 

What scheme had you chosen for your build?

 

6 hours ago, Thom216 said:

Should be one odd/unique bird!

Welcome @Thom216 She is indeed unique for Lancasters. An Avro Lincoln also had a similar set up for de-icing trials so between the three, Lancaster, Lincoln and Anson we have a good choice.

[WV908]

Hi @Head in the clouds.

 

I picked the current 'Leader' scheme

 

Stalled WIP is here;

 

Cheers,

  WV908

[Head in the clouds.]

3 hours ago, WV908 said:

I picked the current 'Leader' scheme

A Kangaroo with bagpipes, what could be better! I will have a good read later and follow with interest, both builds will have some commonality although I think I can dismiss the A320 tail wheel, unless the boffins at Cranfield kept that one to themselves...😁

[Ed 209]

When I read the heading I thought of Eddie Hitler's 1/24 hurricane with 1/72 Lancaster top wings project in bottom

[Head in the clouds.]

2 hours ago, Ed 209 said:

When I read the heading I thought of Eddie Hitler's 1/24 hurricane with 1/72 Lancaster top wings project in bottom

I have seen pictures of a double winged Hurricane, I assume that is what you are referring, now that did look odd, spoiled the lines of a fine plane. I hope you was pleasantly surprised @Ed 209, although the Lancaster is not technically a biplane I thought it would be a fun heading.

[Head in the clouds.]

6 hours ago, Ed 209 said:

When I read the heading I thought of Eddie Hitler's 1/24 hurricane with 1/72 Lancaster top wings project in bottom

I have seen pictures of a double winged Hurricane, I assume that is what you are referring, now that did look odd, spoiled the lines of a fine plane. I hope you was pleasantly surprised @Ed 209, although the Lancaster is not technically a biplane I thought it would be a fun heading.

[Head in the clouds.]

My starting point on this build was to offer up the two fuselage halves to see how they fit and the short answer was 'not very well'. Not the start I was looking for but not a big issue, more a hindrance. One  of the halves was warped like a banana and will require slow and patient fixing when the time comes;

 

 

While had the fuselage in my hands I thought I may as well look at the window situation. On the B1(FE) and indeed PA474 as she was at Cranfield all but the large window under the astro dome position and the small one behind the Bomb Aimer glazing were blanked over. All the pictures I have they are almost invisible to see so I will use the window glazing's as a backing for the filler to bond to. It is almost a shame to have to do this as the fit is snug, both internally and externally but needs must, a sanding stick was taken to them to reduce thickness slightly to allow a little more filler to be applied;

 

While the glue was doing it's work I assembled the roof and side walls of the bomb bay and once this had set I looked at how it would fit together along with the wing spars and what was the best approach. While doing this one of the spars bent backwards where the inboard engine will sit and while it strained the plastic it did not break. A lucky escape me thinks, once it is all fitted I shall have to clamp it between some scrap plastic to protect it from any more damage;

 

The more I look at it the more I think this is a disaster waiting to happen as re fixing it would be incredibly hard, very little material to attach to and it still has to fit through the slots in the fuselage.

Time to count my blessings....😁

 

It won't be long before I start to do the interior so I started to remove the items from the tree and looking at the instructions I noticed two things. As PA474's airframe was left very similar to the fit she had while serving with 82SQ in Africa as a B1(PR) did she need these two items of which I know nothing about, Non of my reference books give me any clues.

The first is what I think is the screen at the navigators position associated with the H2S which was not fitted to PA474 at this time, the second is what I think is a bomb sight, again, being a PR airframe this would not be needed.

Any ideas anyone?

 

 

Like I said, it seems I know nowt about Lancasters🤪

 

Thanks for looking.

 

[stever219]

21 minutes ago, Head in the clouds. said:

My starting point on this build was to offer up the two fuselage halves to see how they fit and the short answer was 'not very well'. Not the start I was looking for but not a big issue, more a hindrance. One  of the halves was warped like a banana and will require slow and patient fixing when the time comes;

 

 

While had the fuselage in my hands I thought I may as well look at the window situation. On the B1(FE) and indeed PA474 as she was at Cranfield all but the large window under the astro dome position and the small one behind the Bomb Aimer glazing were blanked over. All the pictures I have they are almost invisible to see so I will use the window glazing's as a backing for the filler to bond to. It is almost a shame to have to do this as the fit is snug, both internally and externally but needs must, a sanding stick was taken to them to reduce thickness slightly to allow a little more filler to be applied;

 

While the glue was doing it's work I assembled the roof and side walls of the bomb bay and once this had set I looked at how it would fit together along with the wing spars and what was the best approach. While doing this one of the spars bent backwards where the inboard engine will sit and while it strained the plastic it did not break. A lucky escape me thinks, once it is all fitted I shall have to clamp it between some scrap plastic to protect it from any more damage;

 

The more I look at it the more I think this is a disaster waiting to happen as re fixing it would be incredibly hard, very little material to attach to and it still has to fit through the slots in the fuselage.

Time to count my blessings....😁

 

From somewhere around the JA-/JB- serial blocks the windows were deleted on the production line, i.e. the holes weren’t cut in the skins, so there would be no sign of them on a PA- serialled Lancaster.

 

The kit spars are very vulnerable, the slots in the fuselage sides need to be cleared of all vestiges of mould seam lines.  Once you’ve installed the undercarriage bay ribs (“just like the real thing”) your damaged spar should be OK. 

[dogsbody]

Just last week I was checking the possible fuselage warpage on my B.II kit. I thought popping the bomb-bay floor and the spars would be a good idea. I bent the end of the port rear spar at the same place yours bent. Nothing too severe, but those are definitely weak spots.

 

Oh, my fuselage halves are only slightly warped. A careful gluing should suffice when/if it gets built.

 

 

 

Chris

[Dave Swindell]

14 hours ago, Head in the clouds. said:

The first is what I think is the screen at the navigators position associated with the H2S which was not fitted to PA474 at this time, the second is what I think is a bomb sight, again, being a PR airframe this would not be needed.

It might be a H2S display (large underfuselage radome), but it could also be a Gee display (large whip aerials above fuselage)

Second part is indeed a bomb sight, the right angle mounting frame would most likely remain if the bomb sight itself wasn't fitted

[WV908]

@Head in the clouds. correct, that is the H2S scanner display. PA474 has never been fitted with this display so it needs removing from the kit part

 

Cheers,

 WV908

[alhenderson]

This is looking interesting.  I work at Cranfield and (pre COVID, anyway) used to walk around the airfield at lunchtimes.  Sadly nothing as interesting as Lancaster bi-planes there these days 😞

 

Al.

[Head in the clouds.]

21 hours ago, stever219 said:

From somewhere around the JA-/JB- serial blocks the windows were deleted on the production line, i.e. the holes weren’t cut in the skins, so there would be no sign of them on a PA- serialled Lancaster.

Thanks @stever219 that confirms my thoughts and observations. I will make sure there are no obstructions next time.👍

 

19 hours ago, dogsbody said:

Just last week I was checking the possible fuselage warpage on my B.II kit. I thought popping the bomb-bay floor and the spars would be a good idea. I bent the end of the port rear spar at the same place yours bent. Nothing too severe, but those are definitely weak spots.

 

Oh, my fuselage halves are only slightly warped. A careful gluing should suffice when/if it gets built.

 

Not just me then @dogsbody as you say, slowly, slowly catchy ......whatever it was..🤣

 

5 hours ago, WV908 said:

PA474 has never been fitted with this display so it needs removing from the kit part

Cheers @WV908 off it shall come.

 

7 hours ago, Dave Swindell said:

the right angle mounting frame would most likely remain if the bomb sight itself wasn't fitted

Nice one @Dave Swindell that little snippet about the frame remaining makes good sense. Seeing as PA474 was converted to PR configuration for mapping parts of Africa is it possible a camera was fitted here or were they fixed items in the fuselage?

 

3 hours ago, alhenderson said:

This is looking interesting. 

 

Welcome aboard Al, hope you find the build of interest.

[Head in the clouds.]

With the fuselage windows in and now set they were filled with Mr Dissolved Putty and put aside to let this dry for another day, after which they were sanded flush with the fuselage, a coat of primer in the future will decide if any more filling is required.

 

This fell onto the doormat, Xtradecals Post War Lancasters;

 

This has a 82Sq machine on the sheet which was my main reason for purchasing it but after opening my initial euphoria was knocked for six as I was hoping for a 82SQ crest that sits on the port nose but no decal of the crest could be found.....bovver! I am not sure how useful this set will be now but I do think it would be great if a decal sheet came out with RAF Crests on it, minus 2 points Mr H for the omission. 😡

 

The interior build started with the crew positions and as suggested earlier the bomb sight was removed from it's mounting frame and the monitor for the H2S was also removed from it's postion;

 

Now for the pilots office, nothing to see here....literally, as I somehow knocked off one of the pilots arm rests, he will be non to happy;

 

A quick dive into the Evergreen store and a new one was fashioned in no time, the pilot now happy as he can rest his tired arms, while the Lanc was a joy to fly it still required a fair amount of effort.

 

Another little job to consider at this early stage was the mid upper turret position, PA474 not having one fitted so a piece of scrap was fixed under the opening for the turret ready for a fair amount of filler to be added;

 

And a quick test fit ;

 

Well, I have to get my monies worth out of Flickr somehow...🤑. When the fuselage is joined I can then run a cut of Evergreen around the inner perimeter to hold the filler.

 

Next up was to remove the ejector marks from both halves of the fuselage and the crew area, a simple scrape and fill will suffice, there being a fair few in this area;

 

 

 

The four holes in the center of the picture are a mystery to me, after looking at the instructions and other builds I could not make out what they are for so they will be filled.

 

Which brings us on to the cockpit colour. Well isn't this a mine field in it's own right, I spent hours this weekend scouring books, this forum and the web and still could not find a definitive answer. I found black, green and everything inbetween, with light greys in turrets to green in the bomb aimers position. Now, no doubt my next comment may open a can of worms but since I came back into modelling in 2016 I have questioned the merits of internal detail, so here is my penneth worth. While it is obvious some work will be carried out, on this build all the fuselage windows bar one are filled and the canopy has had most of it's glazing panelled over to give the crew more protection from the intense African sun. Also, no one is going to pick it up at a show and put his eye to one remaining window and if they did a sharp retort from me would be forthcoming and when was the last time anyone looked at the back of the Mona Lisa......I doubt never. So this build will get what is necessary and no more, a simple paint and pick out of some detail should suffice. I am not getting younger you know, time is precious...😁

 

So with this in mind I painted the interior with base colours, Tamiya Tyre Black and Interior Green;

 

I will pick out the detail next time but for now I will let it dry.

 

In the mean time I thought I would start the 'Annie'.

 

Being the old Airfix offering I thought it would be nice to bling it up with a Flightpath PE set and a nice set it is;

 

It comes with a precise set of instructions that need to be followed to the letter, apparently, so that's what I shall do. One thing to bear in mind with this set is that it is broken down into sections, internal, external, wheels..etc and each has it own set of numbers which start from the number 1 each time, it took me a few minutes to notice this as it is tightly packed.

 

According to the instructions the parts coloured green need to be removed;

 

Being a good boy that is what I did;

 

 

 

The seats (above) are what one would expect from a kit of this vintage so PE will lift them immensely.

 

One of the seats was removed from it's PE fret and formed into shape  and being curved I decided to solder it as I felt CA would not hold it sufficiently;

 

 

Before I fix the fuselage together I will need to decide which option to go for as one of them needs a little internal work, these are the two choices I have;

 

Or this;

 

The first one is simpler both in build and colour, I now know with a high degree of certainty the colour scheme worn. The lower picture is all i have of this layout so much of it would be built on assumption and I do not know the colour, I can only guess at yellow or silver. I have tried to find more on the history of this airframe during it's military career but nothing has come up yet, that info may give me a clue to the colour in the above pic.

 

What are your thoughts?

 

Thanks for looking.

[dogsbody]

Wait! Before you glue the fuselage halves together, check Sprue C for this part. It's the bit you stick in that hole if you're not using the upper turret.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chris

[WV908]

@dogsbody Sadly this in incorrect as both parts on sprue 'C' are for the lower fuselage.

 

There are three blanks for the lower fuselage radar / belly turret 'hole'

 

The first is flat (as fitted to PA474), the second is round to match the profile and the third (on a different sprue) is flat with a mounting hole for the H2S radar dish.

 

Only the Dambuster sprue (not included in this boxing) has an upper turret blank sadly.

 

@Head in the clouds. I don't doubt that the spare of the two parts above can be made to fit mind, but you absolutely have to use the flat one for PA474's belly. 

 

Although not having dove into the box of one of my Dambuster kits for a while, the four holes in the cockpit floor are, I imagine, the attachment points through the floor for the payload bay mounted motor used to spin up the upkeeps. This obviously is neither included in your kit or needed on your build so they can be filled

 

 

[dogsbody]

3 hours ago, WV908 said:

@dogsbody Sadly this in incorrect as both parts on sprue 'C' are for the lower fuselage.

 

There are three blanks for the lower fuselage radar / belly turret 'hole'

 

The first is flat (as fitted to PA474), the second is round to match the profile and the third (on a different sprue) is flat with a mounting hole for the H2S radar dish.

 

Only the Dambuster sprue (not included in this boxing) has an upper turret blank sadly.

 

 

AH! I see that now. My bad! Carry on!

 

 

 

Chris

[WV908]

7 minutes ago, dogsbody said:

 

AH! I see that now. My bad! Carry on!

 

 

 

Chris

 

Well I'm glad you pointed it out for @Head in the clouds. as I'd forgotten there was the spare

 

Cheers,

WV908

[Head in the clouds.]

20 hours ago, dogsbody said:

Wait! Before you glue the fuselage halves together, check Sprue C for this part. It's the bit you stick in that hole if you're not using the upper turret.

 

5 hours ago, WV908 said:

Sadly this in incorrect as both parts on sprue 'C' are for the lower fuselage.

 

There are three blanks for the lower fuselage radar / belly turret 'hole'

 

The first is flat (as fitted to PA474), the second is round to match the profile and the third (on a different sprue) is flat with a mounting hole for the H2S radar dish.

 

Only the Dambuster sprue (not included in this boxing) has an upper turret blank sadly.

 

@Head in the clouds. I don't doubt that the spare of the two parts above can be made to fit mind, but you absolutely have to use the flat one for PA474's belly. 

 

Although not having dove into the box of one of my Dambuster kits for a while, the four holes in the cockpit floor are, I imagine, the attachment points through the floor for the payload bay mounted motor used to spin up the upkeeps. This obviously is neither included in your kit or needed on your build so they can be filled

 

 

Team work wins the day chaps, thank you both.

I had already looked at these items and at the time I was not sure which was which and for what purpose so rather than fit the wrong one and find I needed it later I went the 'Heath Robinson' route with the Evergreen.

 

When I did investigate it I went for the flat one which can be seen in some pictures I have, it can also be seen in one of my post pics above but is is nice to have confirmation 👍

 

With regards to your comments @WV908 about the Dambuster boxing I may look on evil bay to see if there are any knackered builds being sold cheap, it will save a lot of sanding.

[Head in the clouds.]

The time has come to lay some paint down on the inside of the airframe so after looking at many builds, articles and what ever pics I could find the definitive answer as to what colours to use and where still elude me, or maybe I am just having a slow day. With not much being visible due to much of the canopy being blanked out I choose interior green up to the pilots instrument panel and black forward of that. The black was then given a light dusting of talcum powder (don't tell the Mrs!!) to give it more worn look and then the airframe ribs given a pass on the edges with a 'Dirty White' AK weathering pencil to highlight wear.  This is going to be the limit of any weathering to the inside.

 

As an aside, much of the canopy was blanked off in an attempt to help keep the crew more comfortable in the intense African heat, no aircon here, just hard as nails airmen. I also felt that if this is the case why would the inside be painted black, hence my choice of Interior Green;

 

Sorry about the less than perfect pic but you can just make out the highlights on the airframe. I am new to weathering and find it one of the most challenging of modeling tasks but I have no regrets in buying the AK pencils as my first serious weathering purchase. They can be used wet or dry and by mixing the colours almost any effect can be achieved and being a pencil their use in very intuitive.

 

Kit decals have now been applied to the crew stations plus a couple on the black panel behind and below the cockpit coaming for which I used these;

 

I have found these invaluable and with so many on the sheet they should last a good while. They can just be seen in the pic below on the bottom fuselage section;

 

While doing the spraying I had a technical failure of my airbrush holder, the holster style socket snapped clean off while the airbrush was full, throwing black paint all over the carpet, it isn't the first spill but just adds another layer colour to an otherwise plain carpet;

It looks like I am in the market for a new holder, but a better one this time and just for the record this is the only carpet in the house that was here when we moved in so spilt milk isn't a problem it is down for replacement soon, well that's what i told the good lady...🤥

 

While I had the black paint out (literally) I cleaned up the undercarriage units and sprayed them Rubber Black, some of these items are quite frail and care is needed when removing from the sprue, one did break but was repaired;

 

That pretty much finishes the internals but not before fitting the the only 4 pieces of glazing on the fuselage, the one behind the cockpit and the one behind the bomb aimers blister, these two being a little fiddly.

 

The bomb bay assembly was now ready to fit and due to the bomb bay doors being firmly shut there is no need for any embellishment of any kind here so after carefully threading the spars through their openings the unit was glued;

 

You cannot help but notice the splint on the spar that was damaged earlier, this will need to be removed and carefully threaded through it's opening and then refit the splint in the vain I hope I don't catch it in the future.

This was done successfully and the fuselage mis-match  becomes apparent, also, there were several other points on the fuselage join which will need a little filler so I don't know if this is the kit or my hamfisted  methods;

 

 

 

 

And after the fuselage was glued the front section decided to slip it's clamps and gap;

 

Easily sorted but also apparent in this pic is the misalignment of the fuselage at the foremost point, not the easiest place to clamp so I see in my future a period sitting perfectly still while holding the nose section in place until the glue has bonded.

 

That's it for now, not the most exciting of updates but at least the fuselage has been joined and I can now get the seams sorted before I start fitting the engine fire walls/ wheel bay to the main spar .

Next update a bit of time with 'Faithful Annie'.

 

 

 

[Pete in Lincs]

Gary, that is indeed a terrible joint line on the fuselage. My commiserations.

Anti clamp slip - rubber bands instead of clamps. Or, rubber bands AND clamps. they won't/shouldn't slip off the rubber.

OR, Masking tape patches on the fuselage sides should give the clamp something to grip on to rather than bare plastic.

[Head in the clouds.]

7 hours ago, Pete in Lincs said:

Anti clamp slip - rubber bands instead of clamps. Or, rubber bands AND clamps. they won't/shouldn't slip off the rubber.

OR, Masking tape patches on the fuselage sides should give the clamp something to grip on to rather than bare plastic.

 

Indeed Pete, schoolboy error on my part, tape and bands in the future. I wasn't expecting a perfect fit due to the warping but I where the fuselage seemed ok I was expecting better, any  roads, it is the lot of a modeller to these gremlins where ever they appear..👍